


teukchul | friendship

by plincess_cho (ai_hao)



Series: Fic Requests [83]
Category: Super Junior
Genre: Author: Ai, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 14:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7621921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ai_hao/pseuds/plincess_cho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Leeteuk is tired, he knows he can always rely on Heechul.</p>
            </blockquote>





	teukchul | friendship

**Author's Note:**

> Request from icy-dancer: "Hey, can you please write something about 83line? I just kind of want something that shows their bond/friendship. I hope this isn't too vague. Thank you!"

Leeteuk is tired. He tries to pretend that he’s not, but it’s no use. He can’t keep going for days on end like he used to. Even then, he remembers winding up at his apartment, not remembering how he got there.

He remembers filming all day long before rushing off to a radio recording. He’d catch maybe an hour or so of sleep before running off somewhere else. The days when everyone was enlisted had been even worse: he’d practically lived in the van as they drove from military base to military base, visiting the boys.

He looks across dining room to the kitchen window where the cooks are handing out extra portions. He feels his stomach grumble but as he tries to stand, his muscles refuse to cooperate.

Heechul is eyeing him carefully before announcing, “I’m still hungry, so I’m going to get more food. Want anything?”

“Another kimbap roll,” Leeteuk replies, sitting back down. He smiles gratefully in Heechul’s direction. 

Heechul returns with a kimbap roll, bowl of noodles, and a cup of soup on a tray. He sets the tray on the table and pushes the roll and soup towards Leeteuk. “Eat,” he orders. “You’re too skinny these days.”

Leeteuk picks up a piece of kimbap in response. He’s thankful to have Heechul with him now, just like he was when they were still in training. When they had chosen Leeteuk as the leader of Super Junior, he wasn’t sure that he was up for the challenge. After all, he had been just a kid back then. A kid who hadn’t had much of a father at that. How was he supposed to lead eleven other boys?

At the time, he had accepted the manager’s offer graciously. He was the oldest: there was no one else who could step in. He had later found out that he was Heechul’s hyung by a few days. They’d joked about it later, how Heechul would have done as a leader compared to Leeteuk. But they always came to the same conclusion: no one could do what Leeteuk did.

But, Leeteuk remembers, there had been times where even Leeteuk didn’t think he could do what needed to be done. There had been so many times where he had been too exhausted to even pretend that he was in control, too many times where he had felt like falling apart.

Once, he’d come home from a two-day filming only to find the members fighting. As he’d gone to confront them, he'd stumbled and fallen against the refrigerator. Heechul had been the only one to see. He’d yelled at the others to stop being so stupid in a ferocious outburst before helping Leeteuk to his room. He gently lowered Leeteuk onto his bed and said, “Look, because you’re the leader, you have to have a lot of courage, but regarding age? We’re the same age, okay?” He took a breath. [“Being the same age, I want to tell you something: If you’re tired, come find me, I’ll always welcome you.”](http://plincess-cho.tumblr.com/post/148165245329/because-youre-the-leader-you-have-a-lot-of)

After that, Leeteuk had always come to Heechul when he no longer had the strength to continue. He had called Heechul first when he heard the horrible news about his father and grandparents, and it had been Heechul who had rounded up all the members to be waiting for him the minute he returned to Seoul. 

And even now, as Leeteuk watches Heechul shuffle off for more napkins, he realizes that he still depends on Heechul a lot. Moreso than any of the members, moreso than his own family at times, and moreso than the nurses and caregivers at the Scene Gardens Senior Facility.

Heechul returns and they finish their meals. A busboy clears their table and boys at them, and Leeteuk’s eyes well with tears as he thinks of the day he met Donghae, clearing tables in the cafeteria just like this. Heechul pats him on the shoulder before gently pulling Leeteuk’s wheelchair back.

“Come on, Jungsoo,” Heechul says. “I hear they’ve got anime playing in the movie room.”

Leeteuk lets Heechul wheel him down and the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile. Yeah. He’s very thankful to have Heechul.


End file.
